North Whitehall farmer Joel Newhard says he feared for both his soybean… (MICHAEL KUBEL, THE MORNING…)

September 17, 2012|By JD Malone, Of The Morning Call

Beneath a banner of blue sky Monday afternoon, the split-level homes lining Donna Drive in North Whitehall Township gave way to a rolling field of orange-brown soybeans.

A dry spell in early July left the plants shorter than usual, but last month's rain staved off the bad harvest Joel Newhard feared for both his soybean and corn crops. That's true for most Pennsylvania farmers — state officials forecast a better-than-average harvest.

The good news for farmers and consumers ends there.

The drought this summer in the Midwest was the worst in 50 years — ruining crops across Iowa, Illinois and other Plains states, which will fuel record-high corn and soybean commodity prices. Those prices mean rising costs in grocery stores this year and next for consumers, and much higher seed prices for farmers next year as they also battle high fuel and fertilizer costs.

"We'll have the most money ever sitting in the ground next year," Newhard, co-owner of Newhard Farms in North Whitehall, said Monday as he harvested soybeans.

For consumers, the heartbreak in Iowa is already moving beef, dairy and poultry prices in stores. According to Ricky Volpe, a research economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, corn is a direct or indirect ingredient in 75 percent of supermarket products. Volpe predicts a 3 percent to 4 percent hike in prices next year, higher than average, but not as high as in 2007 and 2008.

John Berry, an educator with Penn State Extension in Lehigh County, said the Pennsylvania corn crop is solid this year, but Pennsylvania's 1 million acres of corn is a little more than 1 percent of the corn planted in Iowa alone. He said the Midwest's scale of corn farming is so huge that a drop in production there rips through the global economy.

Berry said there is also a hangover effect from such events. He said animal producers cull herds as corn gets too expensive. Consumers may see a short-lived dip in meat costs as a result, but smaller herds lead to longer-term drops in supply, which trigger price hikes.

Dairy and beef farmers have been the first hit by the demise of Iowa's corn. Layne Klein of Klein Farms in Forks Township said feed prices for his herd of dairy cows have almost tripled in five years while the price of his milk has declined.

"We usually get 4 ton [of feed] at a time. It wasn't but a couple of years ago that 4 ton was $900 to $1,000. The last load was $2,600," Klein said. "It's terrible to have 1980s milk prices with today's feed prices. It's unsustainable."

Klein said soybeans are the primary food for his cows, and soybean prices go hand in hand with corn prices. He compensates for the higher cost by feeding the cows spent brewer's grain from the Sam Adams brewery in Upper Macungie Township. He also grows field corn, but can't grow enough to sustain the cows.

Klein said the high feed prices mean he'll feed the cows less, hurting milk production. The farm also produces and sells its own cheeses, yogurt and beef.

The USDA said 80 percent of the nation experienced drought this year, making it more extensive than any drought since the 1950s. Due to the drought, some corn plants couldn't produce silk, which is mostly water.

Locally, the field corn yields are spotty, according to Mena Hautau of Penn State Extension in Berks County. Corn has three days to pollinate itself, Hautau explained, to get pollen from the tassels at the top of the plant to the silk in the ears. The more pollen that gets to the silk, the more kernels each ear produces, but the scorching dry spell in July affected pollination in some fields in the region, Hautau said.

Soybeans are tougher than corn and will wait to reproduce if drought persists, according to Hautau. The National Weather Service at Mount Holly, N.J., said the Lehigh Valley has seen 2 inches less than average of rain this year while temperatures have been above average this summer.

David Fink, owner of Heidel Hollow Farm in Germansville, said he fared better than he thought, but estimates he will lose about a third of his field corn.

"Initially I thought we might lose 50 percent, so we are a little better than we were six weeks ago," Fink said.

He spreads his risk by growing hay, vegetables and soybeans, and had bumper snap peas and tomatoes.

Newhard, too, said there was good news from the growing season. He said as long as vegetable crops had water, the added heat and sunshine made for better yields and flavor. Newhard's sweet corn is maybe the best he's ever seen.

"It has been an awesome year for fruits and veggies," USDA's Volpe said. "That is a spot of good news."

Newhard said due to regular crop rotation, most of his corn was in soil that holds moisture better — but the crop in his poor fields will be a partial loss. He added that this summer wasn't as dry as 1999 when the field he swept of soybeans Monday was choked with dead corn.

"With prices being up, we'll have a good year with soybeans," Newhard said.